The widow of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Steven Stevens was presented with his Bronze Star on Monday at a Camp Pendleton ceremony.
Monique Stevens was holding the couple's 2-year-old son Kairo - whom Stevens never got a chance to meet before he was killed in Afghanistan.
10News reports Stevens was awarded a Bronze Star for heroic actions taken on June 22, 2012:
Despite the heavy fire, Stevens used his metal detector to clear a path for a medical evacuation for a wounded Marine when he was mortally wounded.
According to The Associated Press, he was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade.
As Home Post reported in 2012, Stevens grew up in Detroit and attended college for two years at Florida A&M before he enlisted in the Marines.
He was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton.
KFMB-TV was at the ceremony on Monday, and put together this report:
